Many of today’s forward-thinking businesses are preparing to adopt Internet Protocol version 6, so they can bring new levels of continuity, reliability, and innovation to their organizations. But for companies like Compunetix, which delivers audio conferencing solutions to military agencies, IPv6 isn’t only an opportunity for growth, it’s a U.S. Department of Defense mandate.

Meeting regulations and ensuring uptime with Carrier Grade Linux

“IPv6 is increasingly important in many industries—especially ours,” says Ferhat Cakrak, Software Development Team Manager at Compunetix. “But it’s not easy to implement in a proprietary OS.”

To adopt a less complicated approach, and in an effort to improve uptime, Compunetix has begun migrating their embedded systems to Carrier Grade Linux. “I’m confident our downtime will be minimized with Linux,” says Cakrak. “And since the contribution to the Linux OS is worldwide, bugs are fixed and discovered a lot faster than in traditional operating systems.”

Getting savvy about embedded Linux development

To succeed in the emerging Linux-based environment at Compunetix, Cakrak has been honing his Linux skills and preparing his team of software developers for the migration. As part of this effort, Compunetix hired the experts at Linux Foundation training to provide a customized, onsite version of the popular Embedded Linux Development course.

“We talked with a variety of different training companies,” says Dana Krokosky, Manager of Training and Documentation at Compunetix. “But none of them seemed to understand our needs.” So Compunetix continued their search for true embedded Linux development experts—until they discovered Linux Foundation training.

Learning from vendor-neutral Linux experts

“I was immediately impressed by the fact that they were a nonprofit organization,” says Cakrak, who liked the impartial approach to Linux training, as well as the opportunity to learn directly from the experts at The Linux Foundation.

Krokosky was equally impressed. “We had a conference call with one of the Linux Foundation instructors, and we could tell immediately that he understood embedded development,” she says. “We needed someone who could fully engage with Ph.D.-level developers like Ferhat. And when we hung up the phone, we had no doubt that we’d found the right instructor.”

Customizing an on-site Linux training program

With the sensitive and fast-paced nature of the Compunetix development team’s work, travelling off-site for training wasn’t an option. “We needed 15 people trained, but we also needed to keep business moving forward while they were in training,” says Krokosky. So Linux Foundation training brought their Embedded Linux Development course directly to Compunetix headquarters and tailored the learning to address the team’s telecom-specific needs.

With a carefully constructed training agenda, hands-on practice exercises, and additional resources designed to meet individual student needs, the Linux Foundation training session demystified embedded Linux development so that, by the end of the course, every developer had a solid foundation to build upon.

Developing the future—with confidence

Armed with telecom-specific, embedded Linux knowledge, the Compunetix team has learned how to develop new Linux-based applications for their military and government customers. “The devil really is in the details,” says Cakrak. “After I completed the training, I really understood the specifics of the Linux kernel architecture.”

Today, the Compunetix developers are fully prepared to take advantage of all the latest Carrier Grade Linux features, and to develop the next generation of audio conferencing applications. “Now, we understand where all the Linux pieces go and how they can be used,” says Cakrak. But his team has gained much more than mere information. They’ve also gained confidence. “I’ve realized that developing in Linux isn’t scary. In fact, once you play around with it, you begin to see that it’s actually quite easy.”

About LF411 Embedded Linux Development Linux Training Course

Embedded Linux Development is designed to give experienced programmers a solid understanding of adapting the Linux kernel and customized user-space libraries and utilities to embedded applications such as those in use in consumer electronics, military, medical, industrial, and auto industries. This five day course includes extensive hands-on exercises and demonstrations designed to give you the necessary tools to develop an embedded Linux device. View the complete Embedded Linux Development course overview.

Who Are We?

The Linux Foundation is the nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading technology companies and developers from around the world. More about the foundation...